SURVIVORSHIP IN CANCER - International Waldenstrom's ...

RESEARCH UPDATE
RESEARCH FUNDED by the IWMF
by Tom Myers, IWMF Vice President for Research
Exciting results have been achieved by IWMF-supported
researchers in the last two years. In 2008 scientists from around
the world met to develop a program that would have promise in
understanding the disease Waldenstrom’s macroglobulinemia
(WM). Their recommendations were to develop cell lines
representative of the disease, breed mice that would acquire
WM, and provide a tissue bank of WM cells available for all
scientists. These “tools” would allow researchers to study the
disease and its treatments without using human patients. Four
researchers were funded by IWMF and LLS to develop cell
lines for different types of WM. After one year at least two
cell lines have been successfully produced by Dr. Ansell of
Mayo and Dr. Chanan Kahn of Roswell Park Cancer Institute.
The projects were funded for an additional year with the
expectation that additional cell lines will be developed by
Dr. Ghobrial of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Dr. Suning
Chen of Soochow Hospital in China. The new cell lines will
be available for all WM researchers.
The mouse development under the direction of Dr. Siegried
Janz of the University of Iowa has proceeded exceptionally
well. Dr. Janz reports that he has produced mice which
develop tumors like WM at a fast rate. Further work is
required to develop a mouse strain that produces only IgM
from the tumor cells.
The development of the tissue bank by Dr. Ghobrial has
proceeded slowly because of the difficulty in acquiring
samples. Dr. Ghobrial has suggested some new approaches to
the problem that are being reviewed by the IWMF Research
Committee. IWMF members could help this program by
contacting Dr. Ghobrial and offering to participate in the
program.
Dr. Ansell has made good progress in identifying the proteins
that contribute to the growth and death of WM cancer cells.
Finally, Dr. Treon of Dana-Farber has completed the first whole
genome sequencing of the genes from WM patients. This
project has identified a gene which appears to be specific to
WM patients. This is a major breakthrough in research and
could lead to the development of new treatments for the disease.
At the recent IWMF Educational Forum on WM held in
Minneapolis, Dr. Janz, Dr. Ansell, and Dr. Treon presented the
latest and very encouraging results from their research projects.
Summaries of these three presentations are now available in
the Ed Forum Review: 2011, a separate IWMF publication
mailed to you together with this issue of the Torch. In
addition, the three lectures were recorded at the Forum and
are included in the set of DVDs from the 2011 Ed Forum.
To purchase the 3-disc DVD set, please use the form on the
back cover of the enclosed Ed Forum Review: 2011 or visit us
online at www.iwmf.com
RESEARCH FUNDED by the WMFC
For the past 18 months Dr. Brad Nelson of the British
Columbia Cancer Agency has been busy researching “The
Immune Response to WM: Implications for Immunotherapy”
at the Deeley Research Centre in Victoria, BC, Canada.
Dr. Nelson’s research proposal was approved for funding by
the IWMF Research Committee; however the grant, which is
for two years beginning January 2010, is wholly funded by
WMFC, the Waldenstrom’s Macroglobulinemia Foundation
of Canada (the Canadian chapter of the IWMF).
Recently we have heard much in the news about the
manipulation of the immune system in the fight against
lymphomas. IWMF members can be justly proud of their
support of this timely and groundbreaking research. Below,
Dr. Nelson provides a layperson's summary on the current
progress of his research.
Guy Sherwood, M.D., IWMF Trustee
THE IMMUNE RESPONSE TO WM:
IMPLICATIONS FOR IMMUNOTHERAPY
by Brad Nelson, Ph.D.
As we are all aware, the immune system is responsible for
fighting infections, such as influenza and the common cold.
Interestingly, recent studies have also demonstrated that
the immune system can help control cancer progression
and can even eliminate tumors. Certain white blood cells,
called T-cells, are particularly important for this anti-tumor
immune response. Cancer patients with good anti-tumor
T-cell responses generally have a better prognosis than
those without. Dr. Brad Nelson’s goal is to use therapeutic
vaccination to enhance the anti-tumor T-cell response in
patients with Waldenstrom’s macroglobulinemia and other
lymphoid cancers. In order to do this, he needs to identify
vaccine targets that are unique to cancer. One such target is the
tumor idiotype, which has already been targeted in numerous
vaccine trials for various types of lymphoma and myeloma.
Moving forward, vaccines will likely be most effective when
multiple aspects of the tumor are targeted simultaneously.
Thus, Dr. Nelson’s team is currently working to identify new
targets for WM.
Cancer is caused by mistakes in the genetic code that endow
cells with abnormal growth properties. Some cancer cells have
hundreds or even thousands of mutations, but recent advances
in genomic sequencing technologies make it possible to find
all of these mistakes in an individual’s tumor. The challenge
now is to develop new treatments that target these tumor
mutations. Importantly, some of these mutations can be
detected by T-cells. Dr. Nelson’s team is therefore using this
approach to identify new vaccine targets for WM. They will
then determine which mutations are recognized by T-cells and
use this information to design future immunotherapy trials.
6 IWMF TORCH Volume 12.4